Friday, November 30, 2012

On The Fly Or Mining Those Brain Cells?

I'm a strange blogger (quiet!) in that I find it's easier to mine the brain cells for a blog post instead of blogging on the fly.

To me, blogging on the fly, while its the pinnacle of truly creative writing, ultimately kills me. It means I have to sit in front of my computer and not only think of a topic to write about, but write it without doing any kind of basic research. And believe it or not, blogging on the fly actually dries up my creative juices to the point where I actually wind up writing super duper short blog posts just so I can get something up for a given day in question.

However, mining the brain cells is a helluva lot more fun for me. I can take a pen to paper and write out a two to three page blog post on whatever the subject might be, from real world stuff to flash fiction, and stash it to the side for future use. This is the only advantage to my dead end job, because I have so much down time, this is the easiest way for me to fly under the radar and keep out of trouble. So more often than not, I can write about two week's worth of posts ahead of time while I'm killing time at work.

Some of my more crazier and well known posts have come from keeping myself occupied at work. Monday's post is a great example of that, in that I wrote the entire post at work, which took me about twenty-five minutes to write. The only extra work that I had to do on it was to dig out the half dozen or so links that were embedded in the post itself.

So the question for you today is, do you enjoy blogging on the fly, in which you sit down at the computer and simply write out your blog post with zero idea on what you're gonna write about (much like this post); or are you one of those people who enjoys mining the brain cells on what you're gonna write before sitting down at the computer and spending quality time writing out a thoughtful post?

7 comments:

  1. I prefer to plan my blog posts fairly carefully but often this year I've had to do mine on the fly because of time constraints and just being exhausted.

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  2. I tend to do both... there are days when I just sit down and start writing, and then there are other days when I know exactly what I want to write about. I definitely prefer having something planned, although I've written some great posts when I was "blogging on the fly." :)

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  3. Kind of in between - I get an idea rolling around in my head and then I sit down and write it. It's the same with other writing I do - the lengthiest process is the thought process.

    TGIF!

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  4. I mine the old brain cells for what it's worth, but I don't necessarily end up with a thoughtful or thought-provoking post. One word: LOLcats.

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  5. Interesting questions. I tend to write both, but often I find my best posts are the ones that I write on the fly rather than the slightly long laboured ones that just tend to sound like I've tried too hard.

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  6. I usually mull over my topic for a few days before I sit down to write, but I don't put any notes down. So I guess it's a combo approach. All my preparation is mental. Then I hit the page running.

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  7. Charles: Can completely sympathize. Early on I used to be able to blog on the fly, but now, the fly has flown.

    Still, when you can get one to gell on the fly, it does bring a bit of satisfaction.

    Lisa: Mine is about an 85 to 15 ratio, as in 85 for thinking and 15 to fly, although I've had some doozies when I blogged on the fly.

    I think for me, a good blogging on the fly is when I have an actual topic that I need to vent on.

    M: I get that most of the time, but usually I like to flesh them out with paper and pen before committing to the computer.

    Debra: Always good to have something to fall back on.

    I do that picture thing from to time myself and often build a post around one of my pics.

    I really enjoy mining my brain cells, 'cause its the only way I can free up space in the head. :D

    Joe: I get that from time to time. I'll write out a well thought out post and afterwards when I'm proofing, I'll say to myself "No one is going to understand this at all" and then usually put away for awhile.

    S.R.: Good way to approach blog writing, doing a basic outline then hit the ground running.

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